Bitcoin in Brief Thursday: Asus Creates 20-GPU Mining Motherboard

In today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief we feature news from all over the world. These stories include a new multi-GPU mining motherboard from Taiwan’s Asu; a Singaporean businessman acquiring a Japanese exchange; some ripple-loving alleged Russian hackers shaking down Canadian banks; and a Colombian soccer star launching his own coin.

H370 Mining Master

Asus (TWSE: 2357), the Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer, has announced a new motherboard that increases density with support for up to 20 graphics cards, designed specifically for crypto miners. The H370 Mining Master greatly replaces its predecessor’s x1 slots with banks of vertical PCIe-over-USB ports that let riser cables plug directly into the motherboard.

The company explains that: “Mining is a numbers game; it’s only worthwhile if the value of the cryptocurrency you generate exceeds the cost of producing it. Increasing the number of graphics cards per node is a great way to stack the deck in your favor.” The motherboard includes several more mining-enhancing features including a suite of diagnostic features designed to make a rig easier to manage. Chief among them is GPU State Detection, which scans the system at boot and indicates whether each riser port is empty, connected to a functional graphics card, or whether it’s experiencing problems. It will be unveiled at Computex 2018 in Taipei, June 5-9.

Real Estate Entrepreneur Buys Bittrade

Singaporean property entrepreneur Eric Cheng has announced the acquisition of two Japanese companies for S$67 million, giving him a 100% controlling stake in FX Trade Financial and its affiliate Bittrade. Bittrade is one of only sixteen Japanese FSA-regulated cryptocurrency trading platforms. Speaking on the acquisition, Cheng commented: “The cryptocurrency industry is growing exponentially. Against this backdrop, the key to capturing the rising demand is having a well-regulated and licensed outfit. With this Japanese FSA-licensed platform, I will work closely with the regulators to scale this platform globally.”

Ripple Loving Bank Hackers

Hackers and ransomware cyber criminals usually prefer privacy coins such as monero, or just BTC to avoid having to explain too much about the crypto markets to their victims. But a new group, possibly from Russia, has been more successful with Ripple’s XRP. According to a report from Canada, an address with about $5 million in XRP is controlled by hackers who recently attacked two banks.

Bank of Montreal (BMO) and Simplii Financial revealed personal information about 90,000 clients of the two banks was being held hostage for $1 million, to be paid in XRP. The hackers, using a Russian email service, explained that the banks’ lack of education security has enabled the situation. “They were giving too much permission to half-authenticated accounts which enabled us to grab all this information,” they said, adding that the system “was not checking if a password was valid until the security questions were input correctly.”

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$30 Million Gumi Cryptos

Gumi Cryptos is a new $30 million investment fund meant to help crypto ventures crack the Japanese market. It is led by Hironao Kunimitsu, founder and CEO of Tokyo-based mobile gamer publisher Gumi, and Miko Matsumura, founder of U.S.-based exchange Evercoin.

“We’ll be bringing startups from outside of Japan to the Japanese market,” Matsumura told Gamesbeat. “We like early stage. We invest in equity or tokens. We like financial services. We like game technologies, and we believe there is a strong connection between gaming and crypto.” He added that “Having advised top global cryptocurrency startups alongside some of the best investors in the world, I’ve come to realize that all of them struggle to break into Japan, the largest cryptocurrency market in the world. I’m excited to join Gumi and their well-respected network in Japan.”

James Rodriguez Coin

Colombian soccer star James Rodriguez, currently attacking midfielder for Bayern Munich Football Club, has announced he decided to create a new coin for fans to capitalize on his brand. The JR10 token, developed in collaboration with Selfsell, is planned to be used for exchange of match tickets, souvenirs, and exclusive merchandise as well as the opportunities to participate in Rodriguez’s fan club activities.

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Avi Mizrahi

Avi Mizrahi is an economist and entrepreneur who has been covering Bitcoin as a journalist since 2013. He has spoken about the promise of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology at numerous financial conferences around the world, from London to Hong-Kong.

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